Publishers Weekly
10/07/2019
Maryland psychotherapist Heather Cole, the narrator of this underwhelming thriller from Walters (Paper Tigers), gets a disturbing reminder of her past when someone mails her a half-heart pendant that Heather last saw almost 30 years earlier, on the neck of her best friend, Becca Thomas, after she killed Becca. Flash back to 1991. Heather, Becca, and two other friends form the Dead Girls Club, based on their shared macabre interest in serial killers. The girls became obsessed with an urban legend that one of them shares about the spirit of a woman falsely accused of witchcraft and executed. Meanwhile in the present, Heather is frantic to identify her correspondent. She believes that she has a lead when she learns that Lauren Thomas, Becca’s mother, who was convicted of Becca’s murder, has recently been released from prison. Heather acts increasingly erratically, leaving the reader in doubt as to the reliability of her narration and memories right up to the over-the-top conclusion. This will work best for those who have never encountered a story about a group of women with murderous secrets in their past. Agent: Heather Flaherty, Bent Agency. (Dec.)
From the Publisher
Praise for The Dead Girls Club:
"With The Dead Girls Club, Damien Angelica Walters gives us a disturbing, compelling, twisty, feminist, coming-of-age/horror hybrid that feeds off our obsessions and anxieties. The Red Lady abides."
—Paul Tremblay, Bestselling author of A Head Full of Ghosts.
"Walters offers a rich and complex picture of childhood and the traumas found within it."
—Cultured Vultures
"Especially appealing to readers who grew up with R.L. Stine's Fear Street series, Walters' first novel will find fans among a wide range of horror readers."
—Booklist
"Ghosts, literal or not, haunt the core of this novel...Walters ramps up the tension and thrills (and twists) as the novel careens towards its conclusion."
—The Nerd Daily
“[Damien’s] writing talent and horror roots are on display...A solid debut mystery.”
—Mystery Scene Magazine
"Psychological and disturbing...In the frightening world of The Dead Girls Club, women's lives are shaped by violence, but there may be a haunting way out."
—Foreword Reviews
"[A] twisty supernatural thriller."
—Kirkus Reviews
"One of the most finely crafted works of the century so far...The author has a way with words that is inescapable and utterly unforgettable, deviously soothing and darkly ominous."
—Horror DNA
“This supernatural thriller will have readers crawling under the covers...All the creepy crawly feelings of a ghost story complete with goosebumps and one-eye-shut moments.”
—Manhattan Book Review
"Damien Angelica Walters once again proves why she's a major voice in the horror and thriller genres...Put this on your reading list now, as it's sure to be among the top books of 2019."
—Gwendolyn Kiste, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Rust Maidens
“Unsettling...If you like twists, it will keep you guessing to the very last page.”
—Alma Katsu, author of The Hunger
"Feeding on classic coming-of-age horror themes...The Dead Girls Club becomes a stifling portrait of the adolescent trauma that hides behind suburban veneers, tracing the haunting ripples of guilt that never fade."
—Louis Greenberg, half of S.L. Grey, author-duo of The Apartment
"Especially appealing to readers who grew up with R.L. Stine's Fear Street series, Walters' first novel will find fans among a wide range of horror readers."
—Booklist
"The Dead Girls Club effortlessly combines [Damien's] artistic, literary flair with a supernatural story that’s equally familiar and unexpected."
—Grit Daily
Praise for Damien Angelica Walters:
"Eloquent prose."
—Publishers Weekly starred review for Cry Your Way Home
"A writer who only seems to get better and better."
—This is Horror
"If you have not yet heard of Damien Angelica Walters then you are missing out."
—Signal Horizon
"The queen of deft, delightfully flowing, yet quietly unobtrusive words, and the wielder of one hell of a wicked blade aimed right at your weak spots."
—Cemetery Dance
"Walters is impressive."
—Laird Barron, author of The Croning and The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All
"Damien Angelica Walters writes prose as sharp as a scalpel. With surgical precision, she slices through her characters' veneers to lay bare the secret scars underneath, the knots of fear and desire twisting them...Walters is a writer to watch."
—John Langan, author of The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies
"Walters' prose is vivid and gripping, luring you in, feeding you images that will leave you comforted by the light of your bedside nightstand."
—Rebecca Jones-Howe, author of Vile Men
Library Journal
12/01/2019
DEBUT Child psychologist Heather Cole receives an envelope containing half of an old heart-shaped "Best Friends Forever" pendant, and her secure and happy life begins to unravel. She believes the necklace belonged to her childhood best friend Becca, who was killed 30 years earlier. When they were in middle school, Heather, Becca, Rachel, and Gia loved talking about anything gruesome, from true crime to making up their own ghastly stories. A natural artist and storyteller, Becca created the Red Lady, a witch who would avenge those who have been wronged for a price. The lines between reality and imagination became blurred by Becca's obsession with the Red Lady, and Heather was caught up in the frenzy. Now, as reminders of her past begin to infiltrate her life, Heather must protect herself from someone who knows the truth of what happened that summer and is out for vengeance. VERDICT Horror short story author Walters offers up her first novel in the crowded psychological thriller field. The plot is suspenseful but the character development is weak. Overall, a moderately decent psychological thriller with a touch of the supernatural.—Joy Gunn, Paseo Verde Lib., Henderson, NV
Kirkus Reviews
2019-10-14
Dark secrets haunt a guilt-stricken child psychologist in this twisty supernatural thriller.
When somebody mails Dr. Heather Cole one tarnished half of a heart-shaped "best friends" necklace, she panics; the last time she saw this particular bit of jewelry, she was 12, and it was hanging around the neck of her dead BFF, Becca Thomas. Heather tells herself that nobody could know she killed Becca—the girls were alone when it happened, Becca's body was never found, and Becca's drunken and abusive mother, Lauren, served time for the murder. Then more overt threats follow, prompting Heather to fixate on identifying her tormenter at the expense of her marriage, her career, and her sanity. Flashbacks to the summer of 1991 stud Heather's first-person, present-tense narrative, chronicling the formation of the Dead Girls Club, whose members gather to read true-crime books and share scary stories; the deterioration of Heather and Becca's relationship; and Becca's growing obsession with a vengeful spirit called the Red Lady. Although Walters (Cry Your Way Home, 2018, etc.) offers knowing nods to Slender Man, The Shining, and The Turn of the Screw, her own attempt at a terror-filled tale of adolescent trauma falls flat. Manufactured conflict, preposterous plotting, and characters lacking in complexity and verisimilitude sap drama and tension while the half-baked legend of the Red Lady fails to frighten. Stilted dialogue and bloated prose further frustrate the pacing and drive.
A sterile, shrugworthy take on long-form horror from acclaimed short-fiction writer Walters.
